Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert naphthas from crude oil into liquid products called reformates, which are premium "blending stocks" for high-octane gasoline. The process converts low-octane linear hydrocarbons (paraffins) into branched alkanes (isoparaffins) and cyclic naphthenes, which are then partially dehydrogenated to produce high-octane aromatic hydrocarbons. The dehydrogenation also produces significant amounts of byproduct hydrogen gas, which is fed into other refinery processes such as hydrocracking and hydrodesulfurization. A side reaction is hydrogenolysis, which produces light hydrocarbons of lower value, such as methane, ethane, propane and butanes.
In addition to a gasoline blending stock, reformate is the main source of aromatic bulk chemicals such as benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene, which have diverse uses, most importantly as raw materials for conversion into plastics. However, the benzene content of reformate makes it carcinogenic, which has led to governmental regulations effectively requiring further processing to reduce its benzene content.
Catalytic reforming is quite different from and not to be confused with the catalytic steam reforming process used industrially to produce products such as hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol from natural gas, naphtha or other petroleum-derived feedstocks. Nor is this process to be confused with various other catalytic reforming processes that use methanol or biomass-derived feedstocks to produce hydrogen for fuel cells or other uses.
History In the 1940s, Vladimir Haensel,A Biographical Memoir of Vladimir Haensel written by Stanley Gembiki, published by the National Academy of Sciences in 2006. a research chemist working for Universal Oil Products (UOP), developed a catalytic reforming process using a catalyst containing platinum. Haensel's process was subsequently commercialized by UOP in 1949 for producing a high octane gasoline from low octane naphthas and the UOP process become known as the Platforming process.Platforming described on UOP's website The first Platforming unit was built in 1949 at the refinery of the Old Dutch Refining Company in Muskegon, Michigan.
In the years since then, many other versions of the process have been developed by some of the major oil companies and other organizations. Today, the large majority of gasoline produced worldwide is derived from the catalytic reforming process.
To name a few of the other catalytic reforming versions that were developed, all of which utilized a platinum and/or a rhenium catalyst:
Rheniforming: Developed by Chevron. CCR Platforming: A Platforming version, designed for continuous catalyst regeneration, developed by Universal Oil Products (UOP). Powerforming: Developed by Esso, currently known as ExxonMobil. Magnaforming: Developed by Engelhard and Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. Ultraforming: Developed by Standard Oil of Indiana, now a part of BP. Houdriforming: Developed by the Houdry Process Corporation. Octanizing: A catalytic reforming version developed by Axens, a subsidiary of the French Institute of Petroleum (IFP), designed for continuous catalyst regeneration.
Typical naphtha feedstocks A petroleum refinery includes many unit operations and unit processes. The first unit operation in a refinery is the continuous distillation of the petroleum crude oil being refined. The overhead liquid distillate is called naphtha and will become a major component of the refinery's gasoline (petrol) product after it is further processed through a catalytic hydrodesulfurizer to remove sulfur-containing hydrocarbons and a catalytic reformer to reform its hydrocarbon molecules into more complex molecules with a higher octane rating value. The naphtha is a mixture of very many different hydrocarbon compounds. It has an initial boiling point of about and a final boiling point of about , and it contains paraffin, naphthene (cyclic paraffins) and aromatic hydrocarbons ranging from those containing 6 carbon atoms to those containing about 10 or 11 carbon atoms.
The naphtha from the crude oil distillation is often further distilled to produce a "light" naphtha containing most (but not all) of the hydrocarbons with 6 or fewer carbon atoms and a "heavy" naphtha containing most (but not all) of the hydrocarbons with more than 6 carbon atoms. The heavy naphtha has an initial boiling point of about and a final boiling point of about . The naphthas derived from the distillation of crude oils are referred to as "straight-run" naphthas.
It is the straight-run heavy naphtha that is usually processed in a catalytic reformer because the light naphtha has molecules with 6 or fewer carbon atoms which, when reformed, tend to crack into butane and lower molecular weight hydrocarbons which are not useful as high-octane gasoline blending components. Also, the molecules with 6 carbon atoms tend to form aromatics which is undesirable because governmental environmental regulations in a number of countries limit the amount of aromatics (most particularly benzene) that gasoline may contain.Canadian regulations on benzene in gasoline United Kingdom regulations on benzene in gasoline
There are a great many petroleum crude oil sources worldwide and each crude oil has its own unique composition or "assay". Also, not all refineries process the same crude oils and each refinery produces its own straight-run naphthas with their own unique initial and final boiling points. In other words, naphtha is a generic term rather than a specific term.
The table just below lists some fairly typical straight-run heavy naphtha feedstocks, available for catalytic reforming, derived from various crude oils. It can be seen that they differ significantly in their content of paraffins, naphthenes and aromatics:
+ Typical Heavy Naphtha Feedstocks Crude oil name Location Barrow IslandAustralia Mutineer-ExeterAustralia CPC BlendKazakhstan DraugenNorth SeaDraugen crude oil assay Initial boiling point, °C 149140149150 Final boiling point, °C 204190204180 Paraffins, liquid volume % 46625738 Naphthenes, liquid volume % 42322745 Aromatics, liquid volume % 1261617
Some refinery naphthas include olefinic hydrocarbons, such as naphthas derived from the fluid catalytic cracking and coking processes used in many refineries. Some refineries may also desulfurize and catalytically reform those naphthas. However, for the most part, catalytic reforming is mainly used on the straight-run heavy naphthas, such as those in the above table, derived from the distillation of crude oils.
Reactions Many chemical reactions occur in the catalytic reforming process. All require the presence of a catalyst, almost always platinum-containing, and a high partial pressure of hydrogen. Depending upon the type or version of catalytic reforming used as well as the desired reaction severity, the reaction conditions range from temperatures of about and from pressures of about .OSHA Technical Manual, Section IV, Chapter 2, Petroleum refining Processes (A publication of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
The four major catalytic reforming reactions are:
The dehydrogenation of naphthenes to convert them into aromatics as exemplified in the conversion methylcyclohexane (a naphthene) to toluene (an aromatic):
The isomerization of normal paraffins to isoparaffins as exemplified in the conversion of normal octane to 2,5-dimethylhexane (an "isoparaffin"):
The dehydrogenation and aromatization of paraffins to aromatics (commonly called dehydrocyclization) as exemplified in the conversion of normal heptane to toluene:
The hydrocracking of paraffins into smaller molecules as exemplified by the cracking of normal heptane into isopentane and ethane:
During the reforming reactions, the carbon number of the reactants remains unchanged, except for hydrocracking reactions which break down the hydrocarbons. The hydrocracking of paraffins is the only one of the above four major reforming reactions that consumes hydrogen. The isomerization of normal paraffins does not consume or produce hydrogen. However, both the dehydrogenation of naphthenes and the dehydrocyclization of paraffins produce hydrogen. The overall net production of hydrogen in the catalytic reforming of petroleum naphthas ranges from about 50 to 200 cubic meters of hydrogen gas (at 0 °C and 1 atm) per cubic meter of liquid naphtha feedstock. In the United States customary units, that is equivalent to 300 to 1200 cubic feet of hydrogen gas (at 60 °F and 1 atm) per barrel of liquid naphtha feedstock.US Patent 5011805, Dehydrogenation, dehydrocyclization and reforming catalyst (Inventor: Ralph Dessau, Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation) In many petroleum refineries, the net hydrogen produced in catalytic reforming supplies a significant part of the hydrogen used elsewhere in the refinery (for example, in hydrodesulfurization processes). The hydrogen is also necessary in order to hydrogenolyze any polymers that form on the catalyst.
In practice, the higher the content of naphthenes in the naphtha feedstock, the better will be the quality of the reformate and the higher the production of hydrogen. Crude oils containing the best naphtha for reforming are typically from Western Africa or the North Sea, such as Bonny light oil or Norwegian Troll.
Process description The most commonly used type of catalytic reforming unit has three reactors, each with a fixed bed of catalyst, and all of the catalyst is regenerated in situ during routine catalyst regeneration shutdowns which occur approximately once each 6 to 24 months. Such a unit is referred to as a semi-regenerative catalytic reformer (SRR).
Some catalytic reforming units have an extra spare or swing reactor and each reactor can be individually isolated so that any one reactor can be undergoing in situ regeneration while the other reactors are in operation. When that reactor is regenerated, it replaces another reactor which, in turn, is isolated so that it can then be regenerated. Such units, referred to as cyclic catalytic reformers, are not very common. Cyclic catalytic reformers serve to extend the period between required shutdowns.
The latest and most modern type of catalytic reformers are called continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) reformers. Such units are defined by continuous in-situ regeneration of part of the catalyst in a special regenerator, and by continuous addition of the regenerated catalyst to the operating reactors. As of 2006, two CCR versions available: UOP's CCR Platformer process and Axens' Octanizing process.Octanizing Options (Axens website) The installation and use of CCR units is rapidly increasing.
Many of the earliest catalytic reforming units (in the 1950s and 1960s) were non-regenerative in that they did not perform in situ catalyst regeneration. Instead, when needed, the aged catalyst was replaced by fresh catalyst and the aged catalyst was shipped to catalyst manufacturers to be either regenerated or to recover the platinum content of the aged catalyst. Very few, if any, catalytic reformers currently in operation are non-regenerative.
The process flow diagram below depicts a typical semi-regenerative catalytic reforming unit.